William Ambrose Brown (January 3, 1878 – July 12, 1965) was an

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bishop who served as the fourth Bishop of Southern Virginia between 1938 and 1950.

Early life and education

Brown was born in

Albemarle County, Virginia Albemarle County is a county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, which is an independent city and enclave entirely surrounded by the county. Albemarle County is part of the Char ...

, on January 3, 1878, the son of Henry William Brown and Sarah Slade Runyard, who emigrated to the

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from

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in 1872. He was educated at the public schools of

Danville, Virginia Danville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, located in the Southside Virginia region and on the fall line of the Dan River. It was a center of tobacco production and was an area of Confederate activity ...

, and later at Roanoke College from where he graduated with a

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in 1898 and a

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in 1901. He also graduated with a

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD or BDiv; la, Baccalaureus Divinitatis) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology ...

from the Virginia Theological Seminary in 1902. He was awarded a

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from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1917 and a

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from Roanoke College in 1938.

Ordained ministry

Brown was ordained deacon in 1901 and priest on May 29, 1902, by Bishop Alfred Magill Randolph of Virginia, during which he served as rector of Christ Church in Blacksburg, Virginia. In 1902 he became rector of Magill Memorial Church in Pulaski, Virginia, and in 1904 he became rector of St. John's Church in

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, a post he held until 1938. His daughter, Mary Brown Channel, would go on to design additions to the latter structure during her architectural career.

Episcopacy

Brown was elected Bishop of Southern Virginia 1938 and was consecrated on May 3, 1938, by Presiding Bishop

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at St John's Church,

. He retired in May 1950 and died on July 12, 1965.

Family

Brown married twice, first to Mary Ramsey in 1902 and, after her death, he then married Winifred Washington Watts in 1938. He had two children from his first marriage, including Mary Brown Channel, the first woman licensed to practice architecture in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, William 1965 deaths 1878 births Virginia Theological Seminary alumni People from Albemarle County, Virginia Religious leaders from Virginia Roanoke College alumni 20th-century Anglican bishops in the United States Episcopal bishops of Southern Virginia